Increasing number of young people on dialysis

Young people get old people's diseases

For the past two years, the road from his boarding house to Le Van Thinh Hospital (HCMC) has been the road to survival for Mr. Duong Van Lam (32 years old, Binh Trung Tay Ward, HCMC). For a long time, he often felt dizzy and pale but did not have his health checked. When he was admitted to the emergency room, his condition had progressed to end-stage chronic kidney failure, requiring dialysis 3 times a week. The dialysis session started very early and lasted about 3 hours. The toxins were eliminated through the filter and returned to Mr. Lam "healthy" blood.

“I used to work in construction, my health and income were good. Since I got sick, my work is no longer the same, I spend about 3 million VND per month on medicine. My health is deteriorating rapidly, sometimes I have to ask the doctor for oxygen to feel better. I have registered for an organ transplant at Cho Ray Hospital, hoping to escape this situation soon,” Lam shared.

Le Van Thinh Hospital (HCMC) currently has about 250 patients with end-stage chronic kidney failure who require regular dialysis.

Once the breadwinner of his family, Mr. Nguyen Van Trieu (Binh Khanh commune, Ho Chi Minh City) was completely devastated when he had to undergo dialysis at the age of 31. His wife had to accompany him to the hospital and take care of 3 small children, and had to rely on relatives to support the treatment costs.

At that time, Mr. Trieu and his wife had to travel dozens of kilometers to the hospital in the inner city of Ho Chi Minh City for dialysis, which was expensive and difficult. Later, Can Gio Medical Center established a dialysis unit, which helped many patients like Mr. Trieu feel secure in their treatment.

“Compared to before, we are much more fortunate because the hospital is near our home, saving us effort and money. End-stage kidney failure requires lifelong treatment, so we have to try our best,” said Vo Thi Ve (Trieu’s wife).

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Trang, Department of Endocrinology - Nephrology - Dialysis, Le Van Thinh Hospital, the demand for dialysis patients is increasing in most medical facilities. Previously, the hospital performed 3 dialysis sessions per day, but in 2025 it had to increase to 4 sessions to accommodate 250 patients, even calculating the plan to run 5 sessions in the near future. For dialysis session 4 (evening), patients finish dialysis and return home almost midnight, exhausted.

This means that medical staff also have to extend their working hours. The proportion of young patients (under 40 years old) accounts for nearly 15% of the number of dialysis patients here, many cases are under 30 years old. The disease that used to be considered for the elderly is now silently attacking young people.

Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Bach, Head of the Department of Nephrology, Thong Nhat Hospital, informed that glomerulonephritis is also a cause of early kidney failure complications. In 1,000 kidney biopsies at this medical facility, about 300 cases were young people recorded with glomerulonephritis (commonly found in people aged 17-40). Urine tests can detect the disease for timely intervention.

Silent disease, patient is subjective

Dr. Bui Thi Ngoc Yen, Deputy Head of the Department of Nephrology, Gia Dinh People's Hospital, said that the trend of younger people with chronic kidney disease is related to the increase of underlying diseases such as: high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, early-onset metabolic syndrome in young people due to sedentary lifestyle, use of processed fast food, in addition to factors such as glomerulonephritis, environmental pollution, extreme heat...

At the Department of Nephrology, Gia Dinh People's Hospital, most young patients are diagnosed with chronic kidney disease very late, so there is no chance of medical treatment. Many cases are hospitalized with dangerous complications such as acute pulmonary edema, emergency hypertension, high blood pressure syndrome, severe hyperkalemia, etc., requiring emergency hemodialysis.

The worrying thing is that chronic kidney disease progresses silently, without typical symptoms in the early stages. Meanwhile, young people are very subjective about their health, so the disease is discovered at a very late stage.

“End-stage chronic kidney failure and renal replacement therapy seriously affect health and life. For example, a 40-year-old person who has to undergo dialysis treatment has the remaining life expectancy equivalent to that of a 75-year-old. In addition to the high cost of treatment, opportunities for education, employment, marriage and childbirth are also affected, creating pressure on the family, society and the health system,” Dr. Bui Thi Ngoc Yen analyzed.

Many experts warn that the overload of hemodialysis centers is still happening because the facilities and human resources have not met the demand. Therefore, the most optimal solution now is to detect chronic kidney disease at an early stage and treat it effectively, reducing the number of patients progressing to the final stage.

In addition to maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle, and not using drugs and functional foods indiscriminately, people should have regular health check-ups to detect and promptly treat many diseases, including chronic kidney disease. This habit can effectively prevent the risk of young people having to be attached to a dialysis machine for life.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that Vietnam currently has more than 10 million people with chronic kidney disease, of which about 26,000 are in the final stage, requiring renal replacement therapy (regular dialysis, peritoneal dialysis, kidney transplant) to maintain life.

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